Hydraulic method of carrying the down-thrust of alpha deep-well turbine pump



Feb- 9, 1932- l A J. wlNTRoATH Y 1,844,621

HYDRAULIC METHOD OF CARRYING THE DOWN THRUST OF A DEEP WELL TURBINE PUMP Filed Feb. 29, 192e 2 sheets-sheet' 1 i D Z6 Feb. 9, 1932. J. A. WINTROATH 1,844,621

HYDRAULIC METHOD OF CARRYING THE DOWN THHUST OF' A DEEP WELL TURBINE PUMP lFiled Feb. 29, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 rrr A A I,

KUHN A. WNTRATH, F LOS ANGELES, vCALICltld'r'lv, ASSIG-NR 'T03 PEERLESS PUMP COMPANY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, A CURPOR-ATN 0F ALJIFHNA nnannro lunrnon or aanname rnv: hewn-manner or a nnen-rumah d runnrnn rua/rn Application filed February 29, 1928. Serial No. 257,905.,

My invention relates to turbine well pumps and has as a general object the improvement of these pumps, so that they may be successfully used in pumping Wells of great depth without certain disadvantages which are encountered when the ordinary pump is used. A common form of turbine pump includes .a pump head mounted over the upper end of a well,'a column pipe provided on the pump l@ head and extending into the well to a. depth of several hundred feet, and a pump or impeller section attached to the lower end of the column pipe. Rotatably suspended from the ,e pump head and extending down through the column pipe to the pump section is a line shaft. u Rotatably mounted in the pump section and supported upon the lower end of the line shaft is a rotor having a series ot impellers. Means are provided upon the pump 2.o head for rotating the line shaft and the rotor so as to raise a column of liquid 'upward through the column pipe. lllhe line shaft is usually surrounded by a shaft tubing which carries'line shaft bearings which are disposed at intervals throughout its/length. `While very successful in pumping wells only a iew hundred feet in depth, the type-of pump above described has certain weaknesses which hitherto have prevented its general use in pumping the deeper wells. The latter include themajor portion of all oil wells which usually range from onp to live thousand feet in depth.

Of the above mentioned weaknesses, the most diil'icult to overcome has resulted from the stretching'oit the line shaft because of its own weight or the additional vload of the column of liquid forced upward by the rotor, which, as previously mentioned, is secured to 4o the line shaft. This stretching causes the impellers on the rotor to wear against the lower walls of the impeller chambers which greatly impairs the eiciency of the pump it it does not render it entirely inoperative.

It is, therefore, an object ot' my invention to provide a deep-well turbine pump in which stretch, in the line shaft is compensated vfor so as not to destroy the proper positioning of the impellers in the impeller chambers.

Line shafts of turbine pumps installed in l tubing, it is absolutely essential that a considerable portion of the weight of the column ot pumped liquid be carried by the line shatt in order to keep it stretched taut like a plumb line', thus preventing vibration or Whipping y of the inter-bearing sections of the line shaft near its lower end, especially where small shafting is used.

lt is accordingly another object ot my invention to provide a deep-well turbine pump in which stretch in the line shaft is compensated for, while at the saine time a portion of the weight of the pumped column of .liquid is supported by the line shaft.

Previous devices have aimed to compensate for this stretching ot the line shaft, but all' otm these required a seal to be maintained between members which rotated relative to each other in the bottom o'l the well. rEhe sandpresent in practically all wells soon worked in between these members and destroyed the seal, thus causing these devices to tail..

lt is a further object of my invention to provide in a deep-well turbine pump, a device for compensating tor stretch in the line shaft, this device being relatively insusceptible to wearing action et the sand in the well.

Further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the following description and in the accompanying drawings, in which-` y Fig. l is a diagrammatic view illustrating the installation of a turbine pump embodying my invention,l

llgs. 2 and 3 are vertical. medial sectional views of a portion of the pumps shown in Fig.- 1, illustrating in detail the features ot my invention.

F ig. fl is a fragmentary detailed view illustrating certain parts of the invention shown in Fig. 2 in different positions relative to each other.

Figs. 5. 6, and 7 are horizontal sectional views vtaken on the correspondingly numbered lines of Fig. 2. .Y Y

Referring specically to the drawings, the

numeral 10 indicates a deep-well turbine pump inserted in a well 11 having an outer casing 12. The pump 10 includes a pump head 13 from which a column pipe 14 extends downward through the well to a point below the level of the liquid in the well. The lower l bearing housing 22, from the lower end of which extends a fluid inlet pipe 23.

. Formed in the lower'end of each of the pump bowl castings is an impeller chamber 25 which is connected by channels 26 to the impeller chamber of the pump bowl immediately thereabove. Formed centrally in each of the castings 17 is a bearing\27. l

The bearing housing 22 has a bearing sleeve 28 formed centrally therein about which vertical openings 29 extend upward through the housing. The sleeve 28 provides a radial bearing 30 throughout its length and a plug 31 secured into the lower end ofthe sleeve 28 supports a thrust bearing 33 in its lower end.

The pump section 18 is provided with a rotor 35 which includes a pump shaft 36 extending vertically through the bearings 27 and 30 and having a position of rest upon the thrust bearing 33. Keyed upon the pump shaft 36 so as to be uniformly positioned in the impeller chambers 25 of the pump section 18 are impellers 38.

The main bearing casting 15 is tubular in form and includes anouter shell 40, and an inner shell 41 which is supported thereon by webs 42 to form vertical passages 43 around the inner shell 41 between the lower and upper ends of the bearing casting 15. Formed in the lower end of the casting 15 is a pumped fluid passage 44 which connects the uppermost impeller bowl 17 with the vertical passages 43.

Formed within the inner shell 41 is a cylindrical chamber 45 which isl connected with P the exterior of the main casting 15 by ports 46 which are formed through the webs 42. Threadedly received in the lower end of the inner shell 41 is a main bearing sleeve 48 which has a central bore in which is pressed a main bearing bushing 49.

The pump shaft 36 extends upward from the uppermost pump bowl casting 17 through the main bearing bushing 49 and into the chamber 45 so as to terminate near the upper end thereof. lThe upper end of the pump shaft 36 is provided with splines 50 for a purpose to be described later.

Formed about the upper end of the shaft 36 in the chamber 45 is a piston and cylinder by pins 57. The central portion of the sleeve p 56 is counterbored out to provide an annular chamber 6() disposed about the shaft 36. Formed in the inner surface of the sleeve between the lower end of the chamber 60 and the lower end of the sleeveare a number of vertical channels 61 which communicate between the passage 44 and the lower end of the chamber 60. The upper end of the chamber 60 terminates a slight distance below the upper end of the. piston sleeve 56, and openings l 62 are provided in the sleeve to communicate between the upper end of the. chamber 60 and the outside of the sleeve. Formed upon the upper end of the sleeve 56 is a piston'or head 65 having a packing 66 which is preferably formed of lead and which is maintained under pressure by a follower nut 67 screwed upon the threaded upper end of the sleeve 56, and forcing the packing 66' against an lannular shoulder 68 formed on the sleeve 56. The piston sleeve 49 and the piston 65 form a piston structure69.

Disposed in the upper end of the chamber 45 and extending downward over the upper end of the shaft 36 is a steel drive sleeve 70, the interior space of which is divided by a wall 71 into a threaded upper shaft pocket 72 and a lower key pocket 73. The key pocket 73 is provided with ,vertical keys which lit slidably into the splines 50 formed in the outer surface of the shaft 36. The lower end of the drive sleeve 70 is slightly enlarged and extends into the upper end of a cylinder sleeve 75 which is-securely retained on the drive sleeve 70 as by headless screws 76. The cylinder sleeve 75 extends downward over the iston 65 so that the packing 66 makes a' iluid-tight fit with the inner surface thereof. Provided in the sleeve 75 just below the lower nd ofthe drive sleeve 70 is an exhaust port Formed inwardly on the lower end of the cylinder sleeve 75 is a cylinder head 79 which has' anannular packing 80 preferably formed of lead and forced into tight engagement with the outer surface of the piston sleeve 56 by compression between a follower 81 which is screwed into theinternally threaded lower J end of the cylinder sleeve 75, and an annular structure 84 which cooperates with the piston structure 69 to define a chamber 85, the volume of which varies as the rotor moves up and down. This chamber communicates through the port 62, the chamber 60, and the channels 61 with the space 44 within the lower end of the main bearing casting 15. The cylinder sleeve 75 has such an outer diameter that a space 90' isformed between'this sleeve and the inner sleeve 41, which space communicates between the port 78 and the ports 46.

The upper end of the inner shell 41fis provided with an internally threaded neck 92 which is adapted to receive the lower end of a line shaft tubing 93 which extends upward to the pump head 13 from which it is supported. The interior of this tubing is in communication with the space 90. Disposed at intervals throughout the length of the tube 93 are line shaft bearings, not shown. Supported by the pump head 13 and adapted to be rotated thereby is a line shaft 95 which extends downward through the line shaft bear ings provided in the shaft tubing' 93, the lower end of the line shaft 95 being screwed into the threaded pocket 72 in the upper end of the steel drive sleeve 70.

1 The operation of my invention is as folows:

The pump sectionJ 18 is adapted to be dis-A of this shaft. Owing to the stretch in this line shaft in a deep-well however, it has been impossible to follow the usual custom of linstallations in the shallower Wells, of suspending the rot-or 35 dire'cly upon the lower end of the ,line shaft 95. If this were done in the deep y wells, the'stretch inthe line shaft would cause the impellers 38 of the rotor 'to drag against.

the lower walls of the impeller chambers 25. The proper positions `for operating the rotor 35l is the broken line position 100, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. When the rotor 35 is thus disposed, the lower end of the shaft 36 is raised slightly, as shown by broken lines 101 in Fig. 3. The placing of a weight upon the lower end of the line shaft and the maintaining of the rotor 35 in the position of broken lines 100 during the pumping operation is accomplished as follows:

When the pump 10 is started, the shaft 36 vrests downward vagainst the thrust bearingA ``33, as it is shown infull lines in Figs. 2 and In a deep well this may best be'accomplished by the use of certain lindicating devices disclosed in my co-pending applications, such as Ser. No. 133,879', liled September 7, 1926. The line shaft 95 is now rotated at the proper speed by the pump head 13 which causes the impellers 38 to throw a stream of water upward through the space 44 at an exceedingly high pressure so that a column of water is raised throughout the length of the column pipe 14 and discharged from the pump head 13. As the pumping action of the rotor 35 builds up this high pressure in the space 44, a portion of the pumped fluid flows upward through the channels 61, the chamber and the port 62 into the chamber 85. This exerts a. force against the piston head l65 and the cylinder head 79, tending to separate these and suspend the pump rotor 35 upon the lower end of the line shaft 95. This raises the rotor 35 to its broken line position which brings an upper face 105 of the valve ring 53 into tight sliding lit with the lower end of the bearing sleeve 49, as shown in Fig. 4. Thiseffectively shuts off a .iiow of pumped liquid into the lower end of the channel 61 so as to stop a supply of this liquid to thechamber 85. The lifting pressure of the liquid in the chamber 85 is thus automatically limited so that this lifting force will not be excessive, for as soon as the valvel ring 53 comes in contact with the lower end of the main bearing sleeve 49, the normal slight leakage from the chamber 85 plast the packers 66 and 80 willr decrease the pressure in this chamber'and. permit the rotor 35 to drop a slight distance y so that the valve ring 53 will move out of contact with the main bearing bushing 49.

Thus, it is seen thatl byv my invention the rotor 35 is notonly maintained in position for securing absolutely the best pumping re,- sults, but downward tension is constantly imposed upon the lower end of the line shaft 95 so that whipping of the sections of this shaft' between adjacent line shaft bearings is effectively prevented.

Attention is also directed to the fact that excepting for the slight vertical movement of the piston 65 in the cylinder 75 which occurs when the rotor 35 moves between its broken line and full line positions, the piston 65 and the cylinder 75 rotate as a single unit. The wear between these members is thus negligible, giving the piston and cylinder mechanism 52 of my pump almost unlimited life.

As the adjustment effected by this mechanism insures the line shaft and the rotor operating with a minimum of wear, the entire pump 10 will have a much longer useful life than any other deep-well turbine pump previously produced.

I claim as my invention: l

1. In a deep-well turbine pump, the combination of: a pump head; a pump section having a pump shaft; an impeller mounted on said pump shaft in said pump section; a line shaft adapted to be rotated by said pump head; means for drivably connecting said pump shaft and said line shaft in a manner to permit relative axial movement therebetween, so that said impeller may be rotated by said line shaft to set up a iuid pressure; and means for utilizing said fluid pressure to pull downwardly on said line shaft.

2. In a deep-well pump, the combinationof: a pump section; a rotor in said pump section; said rot-or including a pump shaft; a

y section; and means for driving said line shaft.

4. In a deep-well pump, the combination of: a pump section; a rotor in said pump section, said rotor including a pump shaft; a line shaft drivably connected to said pump shaft; a cylinder structure secured to one of said shafts; a piston structure slidable in said cylinder structure and secured to the other of said shafts; and means for supplying fluid under pressure to said cylinder structure in a manner to act on said piston structure.

5. In a deep-well pump, the combination of: a pump section a rotor in said pump section, said rotor including a pump shaft; a line shaft drivably connected to said pump' shaft; a cylinder structure secured to said line shaft; and a piston structure slidable in said-cylinder structure and secured to said pump shaft, there being an Opening through said ypiston structure through which fluid pressure developed by said pump section may be transmitted to said cylinder structure in amanner tending to draw said shafts to-l gether. p 6. In a deep-well pump, the combination of: a pump section; a rotor in said pump section, said' rotor including a pump shaft; Aa line shaft drivably connected to said pump shaft; means -c0acting with both said line shaft and vsaid pump shaft for utilizing the fluid pressure developed by said pump section to urge saidline shaft and said pump shaft toward each other; and means eqn# trolled by the position of said pump shaft-for controlling the amount of said-fluid pressure supplied to said first-named means.

7;"In a deep-wellpump, the combination of: a pump section; a rotor in said pump section, said rotor lincluding a pump shaft; a line shaft drivably connected to said pump shaft; a cylinder structure secured to one of said shafts; a piston structure slidable in said cylinder structure and secured to the other of said shafts; means for supplying fluid under pressure to said cylinder structure in a manner to act on said piston structure; and valve means controlled by the position of said pump shaft and cooperating with said piston structure to control the amount of fluid pressure supplied to said cylinder structure.

8. A combination as dened in claim 4l in which a small leakage from said cylinder structure takes place, and including means for replacing the fluid leaking from said cylinder structure, said means supplying fluid in amount determined by the position of said pump shaft. i

9. A combination as defined in claim 4; including a bearing means for journalling said piston structurerelative to said pump sec tion.

10. In a deep-well pump, the combination of: a pump section; a rotor in said pump section, said rotor including a pump shaft; a line shaft drivably connected to said pump shaft; a primary sleeve extending downward from said line shaft and rotatable therewith; a secondary sleeve extending-upward from said pump shaft'and telescoping with said primary sleeve; a head on said primary sleeve in sliding engagement with said secondary sleeve; a head `on said secondary sleeve in sliding engagement with said primary sleeve, said sleeves and said heads'defining a chamber; and means for supplying a fluid to said chamber.

11. In a deep-well pump, the combination of: a pump section; a rotor in said'pump section, said rotor including a pump shaft; a line shaft drivably connected to said pump shaft; a primary sleeve extending downward from .said line shaft and rotatable therewith; a secondary sleeve* extending upward from said pump shaft and telescoping with said primary sleeve ;a` head on said primary sleeve in sliding engagement with lsaidsecondary sleeve; ahead onsaid secondary sleeve 1n sliding engagement with sa'idprimary sleeve, said sleeves and said heads defining a chamber, said chamberbeing 'in' communication with the fluid being pumped by said pump section; and valve `means rcontrolled by the position of said pump shaft lfor controlling the amount of flow to said chamber. l

l2. `In a deep-well pump,the` combination of: a pumpsection; a rotor in said pump section, 'said rotor including a pump shaft; aline shaft; a. drivel sleeve secured to said line shaft and iny which saidpumpf'sh'aft' is axially movable; a primaryvsleeve secured to said'drive sleeve; a secondary sleeve extending upward fromsaid pump shaft and telescoping with saidA primary sleeve; 'a head on for controlling the pressure of said fluid in said primary sleeve in sliding engagement said variable-volume means.

shaft; and walls rotating with said pump shaft and forming a chamber in which 'said piston structure may slide in engagement with said walls, said chamber being in communication with the liuidA pumped by said pump section in a manner to exert an upward force on said piston structure.

14. In'a deep-well pump, the combination of: a piston structure; a cylinder structure relative to which said piston structure may slide to vary the volume of a chamber in said cylinder structure; means for simultaneously rotating said structure; a pump shaft connected to one of said structures in a lmanner to slide this structure relative to the other of said structures as a function of the position of said pump shafts; and means operatively connected' to said pump shaft for building up a high fluid pressure in said chamber.

15. A combination as defined in claim 14 in which a small leakage takes place between said piston'structure and said cylinder structure tending to lower the pressure in said chamber, and including valve means controlled by the position of said pump' shaft for replenishing the supply of fluid in said s chamber.

16. In a deep-well turbine pump,.the combination of a pump unit positioned in a well;

s a rotor in said pump unit and including a pump shaft; a line shaft extending upward through said well; variable-volume means operatively connected to each of said shafts for controlling the relative axial positions. of said shafts and transmitting a thrust therebetween; and means for supplying iiuid pumped by Vsaidrot'or to said variable-vol- 11H18 means.

17. In a deep-well turbine pump, the combination of: a pump unit positioned in a well; a rotor in said pump unit and including a pump shaft; a line shaft extending upward through said well; variable-volume means operatively connected to said shafts for controlling the relative axial positions of said shafts, said variable-volume means being in communication-with the fluid being Y pumped by said rotor and pulling upward In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 24th day of February, 1928.

JOHN A. WINTROATH. 

